The Racist Sheriff Rules in Phoenix

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

For a downloadable MP3 copy of this Black Agenda Radio commentary visit the Black Agenda Radio archive page.

It is broadly received wisdom that America has turned the corner on race, that the nation has already entered a post-Civil Rights era, in which those who complain about institutional racism and the vestiges of old-time Jim Crow should be dismissed as misguided at best, subversive at worst. It's rather easy to counter this false picture on the institutional racism front: the comparative racial statistics show an undeniable, living connection between past oppressions and present Black conditions. The sheer weight of numbers tells the tale in ways that no amount of celebrity anomalies like Tiger Woods, Oprah - even Barack Obama - can contradict.

Some of the old structures of brazen, unashamed racism are very much alive and kicking. Old-time racism in its most raw and barbaric form thrives in the criminal justice system: the American Gulag that is the shame of the planet. And the man who proudly personifies this system is Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes metropolitan Phoenix. Arpaio was born in Massachusetts, but he is the living, breathing example of the racist lawman whose popularity flows from utter contempt for society's "Others," principally non-whites and the poor.

Arpaio is extremely popular because he acts out the worst prejudices and hatreds of a huge segment of the citizenry - large majorities of voters share his pathological personality traits, as demonstrated by Arpaio's consistent success at the polls. TV's 60 Minutes has twice featured Arpaio, whom they treat as a likeable character. This jailhouse tyrant is an American icon: the professional sadist as hero and role model. And there can be no doubt that racism is at the core of Arpaio's fame, as citizens lash out vicariously through him to mete out cruel humiliations on the hated "Other."

A federal judge has attempted to put some brakes on Arpaio's very public abuses of the over one hundred of thousand men and women who pass through the county jail every year. The judge ruled that Arpaio caused "needless suffering and deterioration" to mentally ill inmates, and fed prisoners unhealthy food in unsanitary cells, depriving them of medical screening and care. And those are just some of the abuses in one section of the huge jail facility.

Arpaio has made a career of abusing inmates. He operates so-called "volunteer" chain gangs for both men and women, makes male inmates wear pink underwear to humiliate them, and set up a tent city where daytime temperatures have been recorded at 150 degrees in the top bunks.

Arpaio displays his barbarism like a badge; he has been re-elected with strong majorities since 1992. Decent people in the Phoenix area tried to recall the sheriff in 2007, but failed to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. The recall would have failed, anyway. A survey taken during the petition drive found that "nearly three out of four respondents opposed the recall, and 65 percent...held a positive opinion of Arpaio."

The Sheriff has recently taken to staging raids on public buildings in cities around the county, searching for undocumented aliens. Arpaio is the modern version of the southern sheriff with hound dogs and bullwhips, operating in one of the nation's biggest cities. Don't dare say old-style racism is a thing of the past. It is very much alive, and has many names; one of them is Joe Arpaio.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com